Southbridge youth football coach seeks league reinstatement - Gate House

By Brian Lee TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

October 24. 2012 6:00AM

Southbridge youth football coach seeks league reinstatement

PHOTO/ T&G File Photo/CHRISTINE PETERSON

Tantasqua coaches evaluate a player who was injured in a recent Pop Warner football game.

One of the coaches involved in the recent Pop Warner game with multiple player concussions is asking league officials to rethink the punishment given him, and fallout from the game now includes a call for a local bylaw on youth sports.

Scott S. Lazo said he applied to Central Massachusetts Pop Warner for reconsideration of his suspension.

But Mr. Lazo, who coaches the Pioneers' Pee Wee football team of 10- to 12-year olds, said that his quest for reinstatement is secondary to what happened on the other side of the field.

Mr. Lazo and Erik Iller, who coaches the Tantasqua Braves in Sturbridge, were suspended for the remainder of the season by CMPW Friday for conduct unbecoming of a coach.

The punishment stemmed from a Sept. 15 game that knocked five Tantasqua players out of the game with concussions. Another Tantasqua player suffered a shoulder injury.

A Tantasqua parent whose son suffered a concussion late in the game said, “A guy came from 10 yards away and just speared him in the head.” The parent asked not to be identified.

It has been widely reported, and alleged by Mr. Lazo, that Tantasqua sent injured players back into the game. The outspoken Southbridge coach said he heard a referee ask Mr. Iller if he wanted to stop the game, but his opponent declined.

Tantasqua Pop Warner's board of directors, in a statement yesterday, said that at no point in the game did the injured players re-enter the game. The six players were given on-field evaluations by a certified paramedic.

Tantasqua began the game with 17 players. Pop Warner has a 16 minimum player limit. The rationale is that asking 15 or fewer kids to field 22 positions — 11 on offense and defense — puts them at risk of failure and injury.

Mr. Lazo, a Southbridge School Committee member, said he should not have been suspended because he had no idea how many kids were available to Tantasqua.

Immediately after the game the Tantasqua Pop Warner Association asked CMPW for an investigation because of alleged violations of the lopsided-score rule, a complaint of an improper weigh-in procedure and the actions of the referees, who were said to have lost control of the game. The hearing occurred Thursday in Worcester.

The unnamed Tantasqua parent said it was “disgusting” it took a month to get a hearing.

But the spokesman confirmed that Mr. Lazo sent a note to CMPW officials, who are reviewing his request for reinstatement. Pop Warner has not set a date to reconvene to discuss the matter, the spokesman, Courtney Megliola said.

Per Pop Warner's Administrative Manual there is no appeal from League Tribunal decisions, she said. However, an aggrieved party may take exception to a decision and make a written request for reconsideration of the decision. The League Tribunal will reconvene in private to consider the exception. It may reopen the hearing and for good and sufficient cause take the case on appeal, Ms. Megliola said.

Pop Warner's concussion policy essentially states, “When in doubt, sit them out,” she said. If there is a suspected concussion, the player should be taken out of the game. The player needs to be evaluated by a medical professional and get a doctor's note to return to play.

Mr. Lazo said the Pop Warner board told him he indeed should have known that the game had gotten out of hand and should have walked his team off the field. Mr. Lazo said this would have resulted in a forfeiture of his team's win.

Southbridge Firefighter Jacques Kallanian worked the paid detail as an EMT for the game. Before testifying in Thursday's closed-door session with the Central Mass Pop Warner hearing committee, he said he saw clean hitting during the game, and nothing that stood out as far as serious injury.

He said that one child complained of nausea and dizziness. The EMT said that if a child vomits or goes to bed early, those are signs he should be further evaluated by a doctor for a concussion. He said there is no way to know the severity of a suspected concussion while at a game.

The game ended 52-0, but the final score has been a moving target.

Tantasqua's coach and the parent last week said the score was 56-0. Mr. Lazo said Southbridge scored 52 points, but the referees mistakenly counted three defensive plays that were returned for touchdowns while mercy rules were in effect. The score was since adjusted by CMPW to 34-0.

Mr. Lazo said the defensive scoring by his team during mercy rules was because of the referees not calling the plays dead. He said his players are taught to compete until they hear a whistle.

Mercy rules go into effect when the margin is 28 points.

Mr. Iller did not respond to an e-mail message yesterday.

His wife, Jen Iller, president of Tantasqua Pop Warner, who was put on probation for 2013, did not respond to an e-mail message yesterday.

Doug Lazo, Mr. Lazo's brother and president of Southbridge Pop Warner, was also put on probation for 2013.

In the statement, Tantasqua Pop Warner indicated it would not appeal.

“Our organization recognizes CMPW's governing role and will abide by its ruling. We do, however, respectfully disagree with the outcome that was handed down. We regret that the opportunity to address the significant differences between Southbridge's view on the core values of Pop Warner football and our own was lost.”

Tantasqua said Southbridge had an obligation to abide by the Pop Warner national mercy rules.

“These rules were not followed and were not enforced by the three paid referees.”

The referees were relieved of their duties by CMPW, the spokesman said.

Mr. Iller and the Tantasqua parent claimed that Southbridge players used the crowns of their helmets to injure Tantasqua players.

“They made these accusations,” Mr. Lazo said of Tantasqua during Thursday's closed door hearing. “Then they bring pictures of a helmet with white and red marks on the top of the head (to illustrate Southbridge's alleged spearing tactic).

“I don't drop football players out of the sky,” he said. “The (Tantasqua) kids' heads were down too low.”

The allegation that he had his kids launch into opponents head-first, he said, was absurd.

Mr. Lazo said that the root issue is Mr. Iller's violations of safety rules. He maintained that he abided by the mercy rule.

Mr. Lazo minimized Tantasqua's coaching, describing them as concerned parents who learned the game researching on the Internet. Tantasqua rejected those claims.

“The coaching staff on the Tantasqua Pee Wee team has taken all required courses for coaching at the Pop Warner level, including concussion training. The Pee Wee head coach was in his fifth year of coaching and is a USA Football-certified coach.

“In his five years of coaching these are the first head injuries of any of his players. We stand behind the Tantasqua Pee Wee team's coaching staff and their capabilities and football knowledge.”

The statement went on to call “ad hominem attacks and disparaging remarks made by members of the Southbridge organization” unwarranted and without merit.

With all of the attention, a Southbridge town councilor said he will propose a bylaw looking to set rules on youth coaches who do not follow widely accepted concussion policies.

Councilor Shaun Moriarty said he is drafting a bylaw on concussions and youth sports. State law dictates what needs to be done involving MIAA teams, but it doesn't cover younger kids, who as 10-year-old baseball, football and hockey players are more vulnerable than 17-year-old players in terms of brain development, he argued.

Mr. Moriarty said he is looking at a town rule adopted by Ashland as a template.

The town has no role in how to legislate private programs such as Pop Warner or Little League, said Mr. Moriarty, Southbridge's former Little League president.